Magis Report 

Earlier today, our Junior Ethics Teams competed in the Australasian division of the 2024 Middle School Ethics Olympiad. This is a competitive yet collaborative event where students analyse and discuss real-life and timely ethical issues. Experience shows that this event encourages and promotes ethical awareness, critical thinking skills, civil discourse, international engagement, and an appreciation for diverse points of view. We congratulate our Junior Ethics Teams on the mature and eloquent discussions they led with teams from Australia and India.

Our Junior Ethics Teams:

• Year 7
  • Sienna D’Allessandro
  • Oliver French
  • Nimah Jennings
  • Nathan Riolino
  • Ciara Thornton
• Year 8
  • Lily King
  • Henry McGlue
  • Charlie O’Toole
  • Zachary Sartorello
  • James Sommerfield

Congratulations to our debating teams on another successful round of the International Debating Championships. Round 3 was held last Friday, with Round 4 taking place later this evening. This competition is held over the Zoom platform to allow students to debate with schools across Australia, New Zealand and at various International Schools. Many thanks to Ms Lumley for assisting with the supervision of this competition.

Invitation to the Magis Personal Project Exhibition

Next week, our Years 7 and 8 Semester 2 Magis Elective students will be displaying their Personal Projects in an exhibition held at the Thomas More Exhibition Centre on Wednesday 20 November, between 7:30am and 8:45am. This will mark the culmination of many months of hard work and planning, and we very much look forward to sharing with students, staff, and parents in celebrating our talented students. 

MAGIS: OPPORTUNITIES TO DO MORE!

StarGirls STEM Camp

Are you interested in pursuing astronomy, engineering, or data science as a career path? Join high school girls for a free Astronomy Day Camp hosted by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). This camp is open to all high school students in Years 9 to12 whose gender identities are underrepresented in astronomy, engineering, or data science. Highlights include: 

• Meet and talk with women who have made their careers in astrophysics, engineering and data science; 
• Use research-grade telescopes to take and process your own deep space images and take part in a night-time stargazing event; and 
• Visit leading space research centres, including our Curtin and UWA ICRAR campuses, along with a visit to the Pawsey Supercomputer Research Centre. 

The next Stargirls+ camp will be held during the week of 27 January 2025. Stargirls+ is hosted at ICRAR in Perth, Western Australia, at UWA and Curtin locations. This is a day camp, which will require transport to and from the site each day. Food will be provided throughout the event. Places are limited, so early applications are encouraged. What’s it like to do the Stargirls+ STEM Camp? Click on the link here for a video. Further information, including the application form, can be found here. Please note applications will close on Sunday 1 December 2024. Please notify the Head of Magis once you have submitted your application.

Ethics Olympiad Case Writing Competition

Ethics Olympiad are holding a case writing competition with prize money to be won. Submissions should follow the general format for Ethics Olympiad cases: a scenario, between 400 and 800 words long, which highlights a clear moral issue and is appropriate for middle or high-school students and is written in a way that encourages civil discourse. The scenario should be framed so the central issue is clearly moral and not simply or primarily legal or professional. Knowledge of the structure of the Ethics Olympiad competition is important, and it is for that reason that we would recommend the case writing competition to students who have previously participated in an Ethics Olympiad. For more information, please click on the link here or view the flyer below.

Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition provides a platform for young, ambitious high school students to exercise their writing skills and compete with students from all over the world. This competition encourages students to challenge themselves and explore different writing styles to ultimately strengthen their writing skills. The competition features two key rounds, the regional qualifiers held throughout five regions, followed by the global finals. To compete in the global round, participants must go head-to-head with local participants and place in the top 15 of the regional qualifiers. The top 12 submissions of the final 75, will be recognised in the global final and will win awesome prizes. As Harvard registration opens 1 October 2024 and closes 31 January 2025, we asked that students (aged 13-18) submit their expression of interest to the Head of Magis by Monday, 9 September 2024. This will be followed by a series of meetings and training seminars in preparation for the competition. Regional qualifiers will be held in February 2025, with Globals held in March 2025. For more information, please click the link below or speak with the Head of Magis. 

Daisy Farley

Head of Learning Areas – HASS & Magis